Rail chair and coupler



W. F. MOUSER RAIL 0mm AND COUPLER Filed Jan. 19, 1924 anuaufo'c WilliamFMouseh Patented July 8, 1924.

WILLIAM E. MoUsEa, or nonenirissonar.

RAIL CHAIR AND ooUrLEi'a.

Application filed January 19', 1924. Serial No. 687,335.

To. all whom it may concern:

ported at their ends upon the cross piece or other road bed and whereby these rails may beheld coupled to each other against accident'al'rnov'ement either vertically or longitudinally. I

A further object is to provide a device of "this character whichis very simply made and which may be cast 'or otherwise formed in one piece. p

A still further object'is to provide a rail chair or coupler so constructed that the rails are locked to the chair and to each other by means of a longitudinallyextending pin or equivalent device.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description. 7 r v My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l isa. top plan view of two conjoined "rails and a" combined coupler and chair constructed inaccordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the construction shown in Figure 1 Figure 3 is a section-on the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a section 011 the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a top plan View of the chair and coupler;

Figure 6 is an end elevation of the chair and coupler;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of one end of one of the rails. I

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates the aligned rails. These rails are alike at their opposite ends, and the body of each rail comprises the usual vertical web, the flanged base, and the ball of the rail. The ends of the rail are made somewhat diflerently from ordinary rails and these will be described later:

Forthe purpose of coupling'two rails in al gnment and to each other, I'pro-vide the rail chalr 11 which, as before remarkechis "preferably cast in one piece of material, the

upper face of this chair being formed with a vertical recess 12 extending longitudinally through the chair. This recess is enlarged at its middle, as at 18. The'end walls 14 of the recess 13 have a width at the top of the chair approximately equal to the width of the head of the rail. One 'wall of each end wall 'of the recess extends vertically downward to the base flange of the rail. The opposite wall, however,has a recess 21 to receive the base flange of the -rail, which recess is deeper than the base flange ofthe rail whereby a locking pin 20 may be disposed within this recess and against the upper wall thereof to lock the rail in place within the chair.

At each end of each rail there is formed'a head 16 which has a width equal to the width of the ball of the rail and of the lower base flange if this base flange is not wider than the ball of the rail. This head has a thicknessequal to approximately halfth'e length of the enlarged portion 13'of' the recess '12 and the flange 17 of therail is cut away inward of this head, as at 18, this cut away portion having awidt-h approximately equal to the walls of the portion 14 of the recess 1.2, and thus it will be seen that when the heads of the rails are inserted within the chair that the rails will be interlockedwith the'chair and at the sametime supported upon the base of the chair.

The base flange of the railadjacentth'e ends of the rail is provided inwardofthe notch 18 with a longitudinally eXtendin'g notch 19 which, when the rails are in position, is adapted to align with the slot so that apin 20 may be inserted longitudinally through the chair, that is through the slots 15 in the end walls of the chair, and will engage the slots 18 of the adjacent ends of the rails, locking these rails in place from any upward movement, the heads on the ends of the rails locking the rails from movement longitudinally. The pins 20 are provided with notches 20 to permit the ready removal of the pins from either end, these pins, however, being of such shape and form that they will frictionally hold in place. The pin 20 when in place looks the rail from any upward movement within the chair, and obviously there may be a pin on intothe chair so that the thickened portions of the ends of adjacent rails will fit within the recess 13, as shown most clearly in Figure, 2,-and then the locking pin 20 is forced inward, thus locking the rails to the chair. 'While I have illustrated a chair having a downwardly and inwardly inclined base, I do not wish to be limited to this as it is obvious that other forms of chair might be used, ;-but a chair of this character acts in away to brace the rail against any tipping strain, such as would tend to tilt the rail laterally under the movement of the train. The chair itself may be held upon the tie infany suitable manner, as by bolts or spikes. The chair obviously takes the place of fish plates at the joint of the rails and locks the rails to each other without fish plates and at" the same time permits a certain amount of expansion and contraction while holding the rails against any sidewise movement. The rails may be supported on wear plates on the-ties or otherwise supported between the chairs if desired.

'The principal advantages of my invention residein the fact that the rail is positively held locked in the chair without recourse to bolts which would tendto weaken and nuts which tend to'come off. The chair may bemade very heavy and solid and, therefore, holds the rails very firmly to the road bed. The longitudinal pins when in place will absolutely lock the rails from any .zd etachment.

-I'do not wish tobe limited to the exact details illustrated, as these might be changed in many ways without departing, from the spirit of the invention as defined. in the appended claims. w

I claim 1. A rail joint chair having a longitudinally extending, vertical recess formed therein, the recess extending to the ends of the chair, the middle portion of the recess being laterally enlarged and one wall of each end portion of the recess being vertically cut away, rails formed with a vertical web and base flanges, the adjacent ends of each rail having a width approximately equal to the width of the enlarged portion of the slot in thewchair, the base flanges being cut away inward of the rail ends to permit the insertion of the web of the rail in the narrow portion of said longitudinal slot inthe chair, the rail end adjacent its base having a longitudinally extending groove, and a pin adapted to be passed through the slot of the chair and through the longitudinal grooves inthe heads of the rails to thereby lock the ends of the rail in the chair. V

2. The combination with a rail chair having a longitudinally extending recess in its upper face, this recess being enlarged at its middle, each end wall of the chair beingformed with a lateral slot intersecting the recess; rails having laterally enlarged end portions insertible into the middle portion of the recess in the chair, the webs of the rails being insertible into the narrow slots iutheend walls ofsaid recess, the flanges of the rails being cut away to permit said insertion and each end portion of each rail being formed with a longitudinally extending groove aligning with the longitudinalslot in the chair, and a pin insertible longi tudinally through the slots in the ends of the chair and through the grooves in 'the rail ends to thereby lock the irailsiin position r a In testimony whereof I hereuntoafiig my signature. I 7

TWILLIAM, FY. MoosE'Rf 

